United States Department of Commerce and Labor, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons While not quite as outrageous as slavery, ignorance, or misogyny, today’s edition of “Don’t Do This” will apply most practically to readers of this blog. Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Labor officially withdrew its “Independent Contractor Rule.” The DOL had…
Image by analogicus from Pixabay Common sense dictates that, as human beings, we refrain from certain activities. For example, neither cuddling with a porcupine nor housebreaking a skunk are good ideas. You don’t need a lawyer to tell you that. As an attorney, when my clients come to me for…
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Several members of Congress have asked new Secretary of Labor Martin J. Walsh to require American businesses to pay overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act to anyone making less than $1,591 per week (equivalent to $82,732 per year for a full-year worker) who…
Nan Palmero from San Antonio, TX, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons I know a guy. (Ok, I got a press release.) In December, I blogged here about how the U.S. Department of Labor planned to update the rules for tipped employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. (By…
Heart Monitor by habione 404 from the Noun Project Oh, how embarrassing! Let me fix that blog post title. In a move that no one anyone with half a brain or a faint pulse saw coming, the Biden DOL will eliminate the joint employer and proposed independent contractor rules. There,…
Image Credit: Photofuinia.com In 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor began allowing employers to self-report wage and hour violations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and pay 100% of the wages owed to workers. In exchange, DOL would not assess liquidated damages, which would otherwise equal 100% of the…
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay Last week, I shared with you eight ways that President Biden changed employment law on Day One. It took me a while to cobble together that post. So, I was kind of hoping that “46” would take a few days off or something so that…
Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons I always click on those “And you won’t believe No…” posts. How about you? But, seriously, last week, President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team announced his American Rescue Plan through which he plans to “change the…
Tug of War by Creative Mania from the Noun Project Sam spent 60 hours working on a project for your company last week, for which the business paid Sam $1,000. The company treated Sam as an independent contractor. But, what if Sam was actually an employee instead? The problem with…
Image by Carlos Insignares from Pixabay Let’s say that some of your non-exempt employees choose to telework for part of the day and work at the office for part of the day, with enough time to perform personal tasks in between. Do you have to compensate them for the travel…